Choose Your Thoughts Wisely

I am very excited that my Choosing Life column for Take Root and Write is now being published twice a month, on the second and fourth Monday of each month. As such, I’ll republish my article here, within a day or two after it posts on my column there. TRW is a wonderful place to read amazing articles from over 40 different columns and women. I encourage you to check it out – I’m sure you’ll find something there that you’ll enjoy very much. You may even decide to become a guest contributor yourself!


Note: This is actually a slightly modified version of one of my first Choosing Life posts, here on my own blog. If you’ve read it before, you certainly don’t need to again, but of course I’m pleased if you want to!


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“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” ~ Deut. 30:19


When God created us, He gave us freewill – the ability to choose between right and wrong, life and death, blessings and curses. There is much power in choice, power we have for the life we live. Every day we choose the direction of our life by what we think, say and do, by the relationships we’re in, and by the attitudes we hold. All of these choices lead to life or death. Choosing life is a journey, not something we do once and it’s finished. It’s ongoing. It’s powerful. And, choosing life, or death, is up to us.


I believe our thought life is the beginning of this journey. The manner in which we think leads to how we feel, what we say, the way we act and the relationships we establish. It is imperative we have good, life-giving, positive thoughts. That’s not to say that we never have negative thoughts, because that’s natural, but rather we don’t welcome negative thoughts and entertain them. For some of us, this comes easily. For others of us, it’s far more difficult. The good news is we have the power of Christ to control our thoughts and change them. But we have to be proactive in this, it doesn’t just happen. This is addressed in Rom. 12:2, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”


Let’s be honest, it’s a tough world out there. We are constantly hit by a barrage of words, images, attitudes and expectations that imply we are not good enough, thin enough, rich enough, smart enough, pretty enough, successful enough, etc. Many of us have experienced this onslaught since we were children. Since this has been our experience, we often adopt and internalize all of this and begin the harmful process of attacking ourselves and others with it. Our thoughts are then naturally polluted by the garbage that has been swirling around about us. Whether it is depression, bitterness, envy, anger, hurt, malice, hatred, obscenity, a victim mentality or sense of worthlessness, thoughts like these lead to destruction and if we entertain them, ultimately they lead to death. It doesn’t matter if these thoughts we think are about ourselves or others, either way we are choosing death.


In order to have a thought life that is life-giving, we have to understand where it comes from. Everything good comes from God (James 1:17). It is He who gives life, and everything that leads to life. And He has given us His Word and Holy Spirit, to guide us on the path of life. When we study, and personalize the Bible, we come to understand who we are in Christ. When we know who we are in Christ it is easy to recognize thoughts that enter our mind that are not of Him. It says in 2 Cor. 10:5, “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” When we recognize those thoughts and take them captive, rather than letting them run free, we are choosing life.


Whenever we have negative thoughts we need to overcome them and put them to death, by replacing them with positive thoughts. If we find ourselves thinking, I’m ugly, we need to stop, take that thought captive and say, No, I’m beautiful. Or if we have the thought, I’m not good enough, we need to counter that by saying, I am good enough, God made me good enough. When we got saved, we received not only our salvation, but other things too. One of the additional “benefits” we received was the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). The only way to know the mind of Christ is to know Christ, through the Word, through worship, through prayer and through relationship. What does He say about us? How does He relate to others? What would He do in this situation? And then we should model ourselves and our thoughts after Him.


We must be diligently aware of the thoughts we think. We must get the Word of God inside of us. We must learn what God says about us. We must choose incessantly, to think the thoughts that lead to life. We are admonished in Phi. 4:8, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things.” This is how we choose life in our thoughts.

If you are in Christ:

You are blessed and highly favored ~ Luke 1:28
You are made in the image of God ~ Genesis 1:26
You are fearfully and wonderfully made ~ Psalms 139:14

You are a child of God ~ John 1:12, Romans 8:16-17
You are more than a conqueror ~ Romans 8:37
You are a citizen of heaven ~ Philippians 3:20

You are chosen and adopted sons and daughters of God ~ Ephesians 1:4-5
You are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might ~ Ephesians 6:10
You are holy ~ Ephesians 1:4, Colossian 3:12

You are righteous ~ Romans 3:21-24, 2 Corinthians 5:21
You are anointed ~ 2 Corinthians 1:21-22
You are a saint ~ Psalms 52:9, Romans 1:7

You are forgiven ~ Ephesians 1:7-8, Colossians 1:13-14
You are free ~ John 8:36
You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood ~ 1 Peter 2:9

You are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ ~ Romans 8:17
You are God’s workmanship ~ Ephesians 2:10
You are the apple of His eye ~ Psalm 17:8

You are His delight~ Psalm 18:19, 149:4
You are the one he died for ~ Romans 5:8, 1 Thessalonians 5:10
You are loved ~ John 3:16, John 15:12-14

Foundational Fitness ~ Choosing Life

I am very excited that my Choosing Life column for Take Root and Write is now being published twice a month, on the second and fourth Monday of each month. As such, I’ll republish my article here, the day after it posts on my column. TRW is a wonderful place to read amazing articles from over 40 different columns and women. I encourage you to check it out – I’m sure you’ll find something there that you’ll enjoy very much. You may even decide to become a guest contributor yourself!

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“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” ~ Deut. 30:19


Ok, so it’s the beginning of a New Year and that means we’re talking about fitness – Foundational Fitness, to be exact. I’m not one who typically tends to make resolutions, because frankly they just don’t work for me. But I do think it is important to reflect, assess and adjust. In order to continue Choosing Life, I have to reflect on where I’ve been and where I am. I have to assess the situation by basically looking for cracks or other flaws in my foundation. And finally, I have to make any adjustments, corrections or improvements that may be needed to move forward.

Of course, my foundation is my relationship with Jesus. How can I really choose life, if I’m not giving the appropriate attention the life giver? I believe it is important for every believer to take time periodically to really focus on their relationship with the Lord. How often is up to the individual, and hopefully allowance is made for the Holy Spirit, but it should be done.

When we take the opportunity to examine our own hearts, to examine our prayer time, praise time, worship time, quiet time, etc., and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us areas we could or should improve in, He will. When we really observe the movies, books and music we keep in our homes, are they all ok for us, or do a few of them give us a check in our spirit? If we do get that check in our spirit, what do we do about it? Do we ignore it and hope it will go away (because eventually it will) or do we take action and remove it from our presence?

This is not about a list of rules. We each have things we struggle with and things we don’t. I will not attempt to try to make someone do this or stop that, because that’s not my job. That is the job of the Holy Spirit and if we are in tune with Him, He will convict us. And if we’re willing, He’ll also help us to do or stop doing whatever it is we’re feeling conviction for. But only if we’re willing.

A moment ago, I mentioned that if we ignore a check in our spirit, it will eventually stop and go away. That’s what it is to harden our hearts to the Lord. And it is choosing death. Jesus gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit when He joined the Father in heaven to help us live this Christian life. He knew we were still in the world, even if we were no longer of the world, and He in His good grace and mercy, provided us with a Helper while we are yet here. But it is up to us to accept the help our Helper can give us.

The condition of our foundation, or spiritual life, is completely in our control. We can choose to make any changes that are necessary to make sure that it’s sound. If our prayer life is shallow, we can choose to go deeper. If our quiet time is not what it should be, we can choose to make the necessary changes to improve it. If our service to God and to our neighbors is lacking, we can choose to make it increase. All of these things are how we choose life in our spiritual lives.

That said, I think it is important to acknowledge that there are times that our spiritual life may be weak because of a specific situation we are in. For example, when I first had my baby, I simply was not concerned with the quality of my prayer time or quiet time or service, etc. Nope, I was too busy trying to learn how to be a mother and take care of this newborn, recover from surgery and frankly, I was just doggone tired! But I knew that was a specific situation, for a specific time, and God’s grace and understanding covered me. However, those situations are only for a time, and then, when the time has passed, we should be mindful to get back into our spiritual routines. Again, that is choosing life in our spiritual life.

It really is in our best interest to make sure our foundation is secure. In Matthew, Jesus talks about the importance of making sure our foundation is built out of something that will last, such as stone, so that when the storms come, we are anchored and secure and can weather the storm. To the contrary, if our foundation is built out of temporary things, such as sand, the storms that inevitably come will destroy us.

In this theme, imagine a sand castle. I’ve seen some pretty impressive ones, built several feet high, with great detail and structure, but in the end they’re still just a pile of sand, which is evident if wind, water or another force comes into contact with it. On the other hand, think of a real castle. I’ve seen some pretty impressive real castles too. I had the privilege of living in England for a couple of years and never failed to experience a sense of awe when I saw these amazing, massive structures that had been around for several hundreds of years! Which one of these castles would you rather live in?

It’s the same with our spiritual foundation. I want to make sure my foundation is strong, built on the Stone that is Jesus and know that through Him I have the strength to come through any storm. That is choosing life!


“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock. But anyone who hears my teaching and doesn’t obey it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash.” ~ Matt. 7:24-27

Choosing Life at Christmas ~ 'Tis the Season Indeed!

This is my latest Choosing Life column at Take Root and Write, which posted yesterday. I hope you enjoy. Ladies, if you'd like to read other fabulous columns in a great variety of topics, please check out Take Root and Write. Blessings and Merry Christmas!

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‘Tis the season, indeed! By now, I’m sure we’ve all been inundated with everything Holiday, a lot of which is probably without the Christ aspect. Now more than ever, it is imperative that we as Christians are in the world, not of the world. For us, Christ is (or should be) the reason for Christmas! So how do we choose life at Christmas time? By choosing to be mindful of and embracing the true spirit of Christmas.

I love to give and get gifts, for Christmas or any other time, for that matter. In fact, that is one of my primary love languages. I love unwrapping gifts, I love looking at all the pretty packages under the tree, I love the anticipation of unwrapping gifts, and I love seeing how someone I care about reacts to receiving a well thought out gift. All of that is to say this: I think that gift giving and receiving at Christmas is a lovely expression of our affection for the people we love. HOWEVER, we must never forget the true spirit of Christmas.

I’ve mentioned that twice now, the true spirit of Christmas. So what do I mean by that? I’m sure if you ask that to 100 different people you’ll get 100 different answers! But, to me, the true spirit of Christmas is first of course, the birth of Jesus, and second, being an extravagant giver. The birth of Jesus was a miracle and it paved the way for the redemption of mankind. The birth of Jesus was as great as it was humble – the birth announcement was given by angels, the gifts were brought by kings and first visitors were lowly shepherds. And the birth of Jesus was the perfect example of extravagant giving – from God the Father, to us, His children.

Being an extravagant giver is not about spoiling our children with all of their wants, or giving meaningless gifts to everyone regardless of the relationship we have with them, and it’s certainly not about going into debt to have Christmas. On the contrary, that is choosing death, not choosing life. Being an extravagant giver is giving with your heart and it doesn’t matter who the recipient is – you may not even know them. But it is giving without thinking of receiving and it is giving cheerfully and it may even be giving sacrificially. Again, I’m talking about much more than money or gifts that money can buy, though obviously that is included.

Christmas is called the most wonderful time of the year – there’s even a song about it. But to many people, it’s not. To them, it’s a long, drawn out period of time which is painful and they dread it coming every year. Sorrow, pain, poverty and loneliness seem much bigger during the holiday season. If you’ve lost a loved one, are in a bad marriage or have no family, there is a loneliness that exists that is both oppressive and destructive, especially during the holiday season. This can also be a particularly difficult time for our military who may be all alone and thousands of miles away from home, often times in hostile and dangerous areas (please I implore you, don’t forget about them). Whatever the cause, it’s hard to see beyond the pain of your own situation.

Consequently, it’s no surprise that self-destructive and emotion-numbing behavior tends to increase this time of year. It’s a sad reality for those in the world, but what about those in the church? Isn’t God enough? While the easy, and patronizing, answer is yes, the reality is much different. When someone feels all alone in the world, they may know that God is with them and loves them even, but it does not negate the fact that deep down they know they were created for relationships. God said it Himself in Genesis 2:18, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” The sad fact is that there are many even within the walls of the church who are feeling loneliness to the point of despair, especially this time of year.

What about those who live in poverty? As a child, when I believed in Santa, I didn’t understand why, as good as I tried to be, I was never good enough to get what I wanted for Christmas. When I was old enough, I realized why – it was because we were poor. I know what it is like to experience Christmas mornings, knowing it’s only because of the church, Salvation Army, or another charity, that we kids had anything to open at all. Now, as a mother, I can’t even imagine how difficult that must have been for my own single-mom. But as bad as we had it, I realize now that it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. For far too many others, receiving a gift of clean water for drinking, a goat for milking, immunizations to be combat disease, a coat to stay warm, a blanket to ward off the cold of sleeping outside, or even having a place to escape to so they can leave the horror of forced prostitution, is a life, and hope, giving blessing that cannot be underestimated in worth.

How do we choose life, during the busy, hectic and far-too commercial Christmas season? By looking beyond ourselves. It’s easy to see, if we will just look. Things are tough right now in the U.S., there’s no doubt about that. But for most of us, if we were to be honest, it wouldn’t hurt us in the least to go without the latest gadget, or cut down on the latte’s. If we choose to see the need that is all around us, we can also see that there is probably something we can do to help – even if it doesn’t seem like much to us. That is choosing life. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something. This year, my husband and I have decided to give to World Vision, in lieu of exchanging gifts with each other. Please understand, I’m not trying to make you do the same, or even something similar, this is just something we feel compelled by the Lord to do.

Most of us can give something of financial value, even if it seems to be of low value to us. That is the miracle of multiplication – God can take our little amount and multiply it with others, to do something really significant. Of course, if we have more to give, that is even better.

But can we go beyond giving something of financial value? Of course! Caring for and showing kindness and concern to someone who is hurting and alone can make all the difference in the world. Phone calls, cards, letters, prayers and gifts are all things that can be done to help someone who is hurting to get through the season. That is choosing life. Most importantly though, bringing them into your home and family for dinner, or to simply spend time together, is not only choosing life, but it can truly be life-giving.

Beyond that, there are so many organizations that you can donate your time, talent and/or treasures to all the time, but again especially this time of year. With all the options out there to be actually be an extravagant giver, surely there’s something that suits you.

Some of you, who are reading this, may be experiencing any of the situations I’ve talked about or many more that I have not. How do you choose life? It is still by taking your eyes off yourself. In the pain you may be feeling, that is probably not easy, and I truly do understand that because I’ve been there. But if you reach out to others and reach out to God, and do something that is beyond yourself, I have no doubt that God will meet you where you are and touch your life in a powerful way. He is faithful, He does love you and He did choose you.

So this year, please join me in choosing life during Christmas. This season more than ever we should look and see to find a need and fill it, find a hurt and heal it. That is Choosing Life!

“And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.’” ~ Luke 2:8-11

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” ~ John 3:16

Today's the Day

Whohooo! My big day has arrived! As I mentioned last Thursday, my writing is being featured in two separate places, besides here at Seed Thoughts. Unfortunately, a have a sick little one, so this will be a brief post, but I would be thrilled if you were to check out my other two posts and let me know what you think.

The first is a Thankful post that is being featured on Julie Arduini’s The Surrendered Scribe blog. She is participating in NaBloPoMo, which is National Blog Posting Month, which challenges participants to post 30 blog posts in 30 days. She has chosen the topic of ‘Thankful’ and is featuring a different guest writer each day of the month. I am so thankful that she has allowed me to participate and bring my biggest ‘Thankful’ of the year to her blog. The title of the post is Thankful For the Wait. If you haven’t been over to read some truly amazing ‘Thankful’ blog post, I highly recommend you do. I’m sure it’ll bless your socks off!

The second is at Take Root and Write, an online collaboration of Christian women writers, who compose words of encouragement, insight and thought for the journey we are all on. I am honored and blessed to be regular monthly contributor there. My monthly column will be an extension of the series I’m doing here on my blog and will be called ‘Choosing Life’. The title of my first post is called Why Choose Life.

Thank you so much, to all of you who are so wonderful about reading and commenting on my posts and for all of the encouragement you’ve given me along the way. NaNoWriMo is nearly over and I’ll be back visiting you soon. Blessings!